The natural gas guy can stop wondering if anyone lives at my house! Its -13 and the stove can not keep up unless its in full tilt. Heck, I am still saving a bunch!
Its too darn cold...I put the furnace on!
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there is a point at which you need to change your strategy. I set the thermostat to come on at 66 deg last night. I also put an electric heater in the garage. I have baseboard pipes in the garage. I need to be sure they don't freeze!
I am still running the insert but I need to keep the pipes warm.
I am still running the insert but I need to keep the pipes warm.
better to burn a little gas than burn yourself out trying to keep the woodstove going full tilt in this weather.
gzecc said:
You could try a ThermGuard. It was designed to keep the baseboard pipes from freezeing. It is a programmable timers that circulates water through the pipes periodically. You never have to worry about them freezing again. When it is warm enough, just switch it off and it remembers all the programmed settings from the last time you used it.
www.bearmountaindesign.com
Cheers,
John
Its -5 here today and I have the pellet stove on about 1/2 way, a couple oil filled heaters on medium in the kids bedrooms, a kerosene heater on low in the basement....I guess I like to diversify 
may be a little costly for a few days but when I left for work the house was between 70-80 degrees depending on which room you were in...I keep thermo's in every room I just want the wifey and kids to be comfy today while Im out...
may be a little costly for a few days but when I left for work the house was between 70-80 degrees depending on which room you were in...I keep thermo's in every room I just want the wifey and kids to be comfy today while Im out...
Currently -31.
I have my propain to turn on when it gets below 69, due to my kids 4, 2, and newborn I wouldn't want the temp to get much below that. It runs a few times during the night but nothing major. When I hear it turn on I know it is time to check the stove, than its either running out of wood or the AB stalled.
I have my propain to turn on when it gets below 69, due to my kids 4, 2, and newborn I wouldn't want the temp to get much below that. It runs a few times during the night but nothing major. When I hear it turn on I know it is time to check the stove, than its either running out of wood or the AB stalled.
Well the furnace does not run unless the wood is about 3/4 of the way thru its cycle. Still better then my neighbor, his runs and runs and runs. I think it may be off a grand total of 15 minutes an hour
- Oct 8, 2008
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its +18 here outside.
my bedroom, which is furthest away from the furnace, is a frigit 47 degrees! the rest of the house is mid 60s. I just put new insulation between the floor joist of my bedroom, which is located above a ventilated crawl space. the rest of the house is over a full basement.
my bedroom, which is furthest away from the furnace, is a frigit 47 degrees! the rest of the house is mid 60s. I just put new insulation between the floor joist of my bedroom, which is located above a ventilated crawl space. the rest of the house is over a full basement.
Yeah we were a balmy 6*F last night in CT so I guess I shouldn't complain too much. Way too cold for the stove to keep up alone. Fed it every 3 or 4 hours, running hot but not wanting to overfire... Flue metal temps around 400 with the damper just cracked a tiny bit open and the primary open 1" - I don't like to run sustained any hotter than that. Still wish i could cut the draft back some more. Ran the oil a couple times just to warm up the kitchen and upstairs a little better.
One curious(?) thing is the stovetop Rutland, with a box fan in the next room aiming cold air around the house past the stove, seems to be slightly affected by that air current more these very cold days. The IR shows 420-470 on the stovetop, but more like 370-400 on the Rutland (back edge of the top center stone) and the glass was over 700 - plenty of heat rolling off the stove. Just a caution - tune into your stove and don't overfire it trying to just read the gages.
We're thinking of moving the oil/steam thermostat out of the woodstove room (center downstairs) to the hallway above (center upstairs) - still keeping it set low, but more to react to the upstairs temps, since the stove is dominating downstairs - to get the upstairs to 62, I have to set the downstairs t'stat to 74 sometimes!
Stay warm and safe, everyone...
One curious(?) thing is the stovetop Rutland, with a box fan in the next room aiming cold air around the house past the stove, seems to be slightly affected by that air current more these very cold days. The IR shows 420-470 on the stovetop, but more like 370-400 on the Rutland (back edge of the top center stone) and the glass was over 700 - plenty of heat rolling off the stove. Just a caution - tune into your stove and don't overfire it trying to just read the gages.
We're thinking of moving the oil/steam thermostat out of the woodstove room (center downstairs) to the hallway above (center upstairs) - still keeping it set low, but more to react to the upstairs temps, since the stove is dominating downstairs - to get the upstairs to 62, I have to set the downstairs t'stat to 74 sometimes!
Stay warm and safe, everyone...
Woke up to -23F this morning. Don't like it. Any temp that starts out with "minus" sucks.
I run the stove hard, but the furnace will not allow inside night (sleeping) temps to go below 66. It starts to run about 2:00 a.m. and I ain't gettin up to feed the fire.
Oh, and Bokehman, respectfully ----"Bite me" :lol: Wanna send a little of that heat this way??
I run the stove hard, but the furnace will not allow inside night (sleeping) temps to go below 66. It starts to run about 2:00 a.m. and I ain't gettin up to feed the fire.
Oh, and Bokehman, respectfully ----"Bite me" :lol: Wanna send a little of that heat this way??
I woke up to -21 this morning, -37 wind chill. Upstairs 72 and downstairs 74. There is no way my stove in the basement could keep up with this cold weather for whole house heating, I'm glad I have a big masonry fireplace to help out the main floor. It may eat wood but it throws some serious heat quickly and stays warm long after the fire dies. Some day I will buy an insert for it, but for now it works.
My wife and I are usually gone at work for ~12 hours during the day, so when it's this cold there isn't anything I can do about the furnace kicking on.
Usually I leave it set at ~62 degrees or so.
It's usually still about 67 when I get home from work, but as cold as it is, I fully expect it to be 62 with the furnace running when I get home.
At the rate I'm going, the half tank of propane that was left over from last winter will get me by for this season as a supplement to the stove. It's run very little this year.
-SF
Usually I leave it set at ~62 degrees or so.
It's usually still about 67 when I get home from work, but as cold as it is, I fully expect it to be 62 with the furnace running when I get home.
At the rate I'm going, the half tank of propane that was left over from last winter will get me by for this season as a supplement to the stove. It's run very little this year.
-SF
The best way I have found to keep the house warm when gone for work is to have the furnace cycle in the morning once you get the stove up to a good time, bring the house up with teh furnace and stove to a higher temp than you normally would, let the furnace kick off and then the stove maintains that temp much easier than having to bring the entire house up to a decent temp. warm air around a warm stove is more efficient if you ask me. I also leave my furnace on to kick on if it falls below 67 on days like today.
Adirondackwoodburner, where is the thermostat for your furnace? I am in the same position and currently my thermo is in the same room as the stove. I am thinking about moving it to the kitchen.
yup, its about 6 feet from the darn stove. Not the most ideal location but the way I see it if I were to mvoe it further away my furnace would come on constantly!
Called my oil co today. $2.079/gal! (that's the 7-day/cash price) I got 120 gal (~$250), which they'll deliver tomorrow... She said in the last 3 weeks, it's been fluctuating from about $1.80 to $2.15/gal.
From my 11/6/08 notes: "Cash price today is $2.609/gal, and "that is down from yesterday"… "
We added about 150 gal to the ~100 gal we had then. Now we're just under 100 gal again. So we used about 150 gal in 10 weeks, or 15 gal/wk, or just over 2 gal/day.
Thinking back to previous years, if I estimate we got about 200 gal every 4 weeks in the coldest part of the year, that'd be 50 gal/wk, or about 7 gal/day. So we're using at least 71% less oil.
Yay wood! That's a WIN for a first-year burner, in my book.
From my 11/6/08 notes: "Cash price today is $2.609/gal, and "that is down from yesterday"… "
We added about 150 gal to the ~100 gal we had then. Now we're just under 100 gal again. So we used about 150 gal in 10 weeks, or 15 gal/wk, or just over 2 gal/day.
Thinking back to previous years, if I estimate we got about 200 gal every 4 weeks in the coldest part of the year, that'd be 50 gal/wk, or about 7 gal/day. So we're using at least 71% less oil.
Yay wood! That's a WIN for a first-year burner, in my book.
Edthedawg said:
Ed - assuming the stove was intended for supplemental heat and not primary, thats a WIN in anybodys book. Way to go.
-40, before the wind chill here in SD. My 2100 Millenium Quad will not keep up. Salesman told me wrong, he did not know too much about them, I came to realize later, and came to realize I could use some new insulation, but I still use very little fuel oil, supposed to get above 0 for a high tomorrow, might get to -15 today, I think Mother Nature got us mixed up with Alaska.
I'll have to look at what propane is going for. Maybe I should buy a couple hundred gallons now to top off my tank. Somehow, I doubt prices will stay where they are for now.
If I top off the tank, I could get another two seasons out of it at the rate i'm going.
-SF
If I top off the tank, I could get another two seasons out of it at the rate i'm going.
-SF
This morning had -18 here. Guess we're lucky though, northern Maine had some -40's, so it could be worse... Supposed to be a little warmer tonight, still 74 inside with the fire purring along. Glad I saved my best oak and ash for the cold spell.
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